If we can't convince the government to crackdown on this scumware in the interest of security and privacy, maybe we can get them to do it in the interest of intellectual property.
Agreed. Complaining that a gazillionaire is only giving away a zillion dollars, or that they are doing it for PR isn't all that productive. Let the symbol of greed give. Fight what the symbol symbolizes to you. If you don't have the assets to prove that you would be MORE giving in those shoes, be more giving in other ways. And Vote. And educate others. Get them to vote.
It's not a particular person that is evil, it's the institution. That's the way it's set up. A corporation is immortal. It's amazing and scary. It's silly to put a good or bad sticker on an entity as large as Microsoft. There are good things and bad things about it, from the people who run it to the social implications. You could say a good thing, and I a bad, each one trying to outdo the other. It's a bad idea to let a negative bias about something stop us from embracing the positive.
A manager has to make a company grow to please investors. The manager may not be evil or selfish. The investors as a group might be causing harm by forcing a blated company to get bigger, but each investor could be among the most generous of people. They are simply deciding to hold a stock based on a future selling price. If they fear the company can't grow, they'll sell. The company will be valued at less and will suffer. It's a shame that it's not good enough for a business to simply sustain itself. Making the same profit year after year is still profit. Unfortunately, the days of people investing for the dividends are over. It's buy low sell high. These Buy-lowers, these sell-highers... I am sure there are some with personalities we might not agree with. Others are great people.
We need people to be aware of this. That's what government should be used for. To regulate these otherwise uncontrollable beasts. If no ONE is to blame, and no ONE is accountable, WE must have a way to regulate and to give PEOPLE what they need.
Some companies need software, but don't make money by selling or supporting software. A company might need some tools that don't exist. If those tools are useful to other companies, and don't necessarily provide a competitive advantage, Open Sourcing it might be wise. For instance, if as a part of my business, I have to, for some reason, rip and tag a lot of CDs through a Web App, I will need some kind of plugin or applet that will allow my App to ask the user "Please Insert a CD". This might be a project I can offer to the Open Source community in return for the possibility that it will be improved. In fact, a large amount of the initial development might come from the community. My company may then put more focus into it's actual business while providing a useful tool for free.
Programming a game takes more than just knowing how to program. There are a lot of concepts involved. Maybe try outlining the aspects of simple game programming, and then from this outline try to write some code demonstrating an implementation. If you can, from this, end up with a working version of "Breakout", I would say you have learned quite a bit in four months. If you don't get that far, you still have an interesting paper with something to show for your work.
If you go the classic VGA route, you can learn quite a lot about programming and hardware.
1) Video Card Access
Maybe start with a graphic demo by changing your video mode and plotting points to the screen. Maybe write a "line drawing" routine. Perhaps make some of this move by redrawing. You can learn about various buffering/paging techniques while you're at it.
2) Reading from input devices.
Now control the screen contents with a joystick, keyboard or mouse. In fact, do them all. There are plenty of libraries out there, but you might want to learn how to do this at a low level.
3) Programming a Timer
Control your cycles so it runs the same on all machines capable of running the program.
4) Collision Detection
Demonstrate how the computer "knows" when objects touch other objects. Maybe just make a shape that bounces around the screen, or two shapes that bounce off each other.
5) Screen Scrolling
6) AI
No matter how far you get, everything you learn will be useful information.
You can still stream. There are plenty of tools available. Shoutcast (is|was) a really handy directory! But, Nullsoft own(s|ed) both Winamp AND Shoutcast. Hopefully someone else will come up with a service aping theirs!
The Bill of Rights is for the individual, not a potentially immortal, money-making entity. It's meant to protect the individual, not the interest of a commercial organization.
How about if all KDE apps kept track of files that they opened? This could be analagous to linking to another file. So, not only do we know how often a file is accessed, but we also know how many apps access it. Now we have a context as well.
Perhaps, they plan on making use of online gaming with these features and they don't want someone else to patent it later, and then come asking for a handout. See also: One-Click Shopping, the hyperlink
Maybe Clippy and Mario can team up! "It appears you like to [eat strange mushrooms and then break bricks with your head]. Would you like me to help you create a macro to [eat strange mushrooms and then break bricks with your head]?"
This is true. But, I would consider it more than a "Spin". The Document Comprising the USA-PATRIOT states: (a) SHORT TITLE- This Act may be cited as the `Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT ACT) Act of 2001'.
Yes. This is true. For *nix. For those people like my mother running Windows (hey, I got them as far as using Firefox and Open Office), this isn't as easy. In fact, I don't even think there is a utility in Windows that lets you create a Symbolic Link.
I Hope that all browsers involved would allow me to point to my own plugin directory, so I don't have to have a different copy of the same file for each browser I use.
What I thought to be impossible had suddenly become a reality.
Great news, then! If all this spam and chain mail comes true, maybe Bill Gates really WILL send me $200, and I'll have a large enough "one of those" to "THR0W IT T0 H3R FRom Accros5 the Ro0m. xldiendas cqwqsd". That, I will learn "The Secret Of Become Truly Loaded In Just Several Many Weeks".
If you've just ripped it, didn't you just copy it? If you've just turned it into mp3s, can't you just burn it to another disc? How is there any copy protection? It looks to me like the copy protection is not working.
In the U.S., it's usually low-paid teenagers working as theater ushers. Yeah, give them night vision goggles to play with. Now you have a pirated movie AND missing night vision goggles!
Programming is merely a tool we learn to help make use of what we learn in Computer Science. Anyone can learn to program at some level. Just like anyone can learn to use a calculator. Making these tools do something interesting/novel/innovative/useful is another story.
Yes, you need to make use of math.
At least, the ability for some form of math-like reasoning! Granted, some are not great at math, but are great at Computer Science. These people still have a strong mind for math, just not the discipline to work it out on paper formally. They are still great problem solvers. They likely did bad in Trig/Calc, but great in Geometry or Logic.
I think that the main thing that makes a strong Computer Scientist is that they enjoy Computer Science. This is why some do not do well in Math, but excel at CS. It's not the mind, it's the attention span. In fact, many itching to solve a Computer Science problem will figure out the math when they need it. It has become interesting. But, the itch has to be there. The curiosity has to be there. The desire to tinker, rip it apart, and (hopefully) put it back together has to be there. And if learning to program is the the tool to get it done, so be it!
My first year taking CS classes showed this to me. The intro class went from 90 at the beginning of the semester to 40 at the end. Many of those people who decided "Computer Science is a good idea, because it's where the jobs are" (this was five 7 years ago), though smart, didn't have the interest needed. More than half of the class dropped it. Others ( a mix of good and - not as good - students) did very well.
So, yes, you may not need the math, but you need to have the ability to solve the problem. Please, do everyone a favor, and only persue CS if it is interesting to you. I know too many people that know all sorts of languages, and are over-confident, land great jobs and then are not great at their jobs. There's a lot of unemployed or underemplyed IT people out there with a lot of real talent who need a job and will do it well.
Slashdot Mirror
If we can't convince the government to crackdown on this scumware in the interest of security and privacy, maybe we can get them to do it in the interest of intellectual property.
Agreed. Complaining that a gazillionaire is only giving away a zillion dollars, or that they are doing it for PR isn't all that productive. Let the symbol of greed give. Fight what the symbol symbolizes to you. If you don't have the assets to prove that you would be MORE giving in those shoes, be more giving in other ways. And Vote. And educate others. Get them to vote.
It's not a particular person that is evil, it's the institution. That's the way it's set up. A corporation is immortal. It's amazing and scary. It's silly to put a good or bad sticker on an entity as large as Microsoft. There are good things and bad things about it, from the people who run it to the social implications. You could say a good thing, and I a bad, each one trying to outdo the other. It's a bad idea to let a negative bias about something stop us from embracing the positive.
A manager has to make a company grow to please investors. The manager may not be evil or selfish. The investors as a group might be causing harm by forcing a blated company to get bigger, but each investor could be among the most generous of people. They are simply deciding to hold a stock based on a future selling price. If they fear the company can't grow, they'll sell. The company will be valued at less and will suffer. It's a shame that it's not good enough for a business to simply sustain itself. Making the same profit year after year is still profit. Unfortunately, the days of people investing for the dividends are over. It's buy low sell high. These Buy-lowers, these sell-highers... I am sure there are some with personalities we might not agree with. Others are great people.
We need people to be aware of this. That's what government should be used for. To regulate these otherwise uncontrollable beasts. If no ONE is to blame, and no ONE is accountable, WE must have a way to regulate and to give PEOPLE what they need.
He gave it Three and a Half Stars.
Phantom Menace also got Three and a Half.
Some companies need software, but don't make money by selling or supporting software. A company might need some tools that don't exist. If those tools are useful to other companies, and don't necessarily provide a competitive advantage, Open Sourcing it might be wise. For instance, if as a part of my business, I have to, for some reason, rip and tag a lot of CDs through a Web App, I will need some kind of plugin or applet that will allow my App to ask the user "Please Insert a CD". This might be a project I can offer to the Open Source community in return for the possibility that it will be improved. In fact, a large amount of the initial development might come from the community. My company may then put more focus into it's actual business while providing a useful tool for free.
Programming a game takes more than just knowing how to program. There are a lot of concepts involved. Maybe try outlining the aspects of simple game programming, and then from this outline try to write some code demonstrating an implementation. If you can, from this, end up with a working version of "Breakout", I would say you have learned quite a bit in four months. If you don't get that far, you still have an interesting paper with something to show for your work.
If you go the classic VGA route, you can learn quite a lot about programming and hardware.
1) Video Card Access
Maybe start with a graphic demo by changing your video mode and plotting points to the screen. Maybe write a "line drawing" routine. Perhaps make some of this move by redrawing. You can learn about various buffering/paging techniques while you're at it.
2) Reading from input devices.
Now control the screen contents with a joystick, keyboard or mouse. In fact, do them all. There are plenty of libraries out there, but you might want to learn how to do this at a low level.
3) Programming a Timer
Control your cycles so it runs the same on all machines capable of running the program.
4) Collision Detection
Demonstrate how the computer "knows" when objects touch other objects. Maybe just make a shape that bounces around the screen, or two shapes that bounce off each other.
5) Screen Scrolling
6) AI
No matter how far you get, everything you learn will be useful information.
You just need one computer on there internet that's connected to one computer on "our" Internet, then it's one network; i.e. the Internet!
You can still stream. There are plenty of tools available. Shoutcast (is|was) a really handy directory! But, Nullsoft own(s|ed) both Winamp AND Shoutcast. Hopefully someone else will come up with a service aping theirs!
It's probably money procured for something they don't want to tell us they are using it for.
The Bill of Rights is for the individual, not a potentially immortal, money-making entity. It's meant to protect the individual, not the interest of a commercial organization.
How about if all KDE apps kept track of files that they opened? This could be analagous to linking to another file. So, not only do we know how often a file is accessed, but we also know how many apps access it. Now we have a context as well.
Perhaps, they plan on making use of online gaming with these features and they don't want someone else to patent it later, and then come asking for a handout. See also: One-Click Shopping, the hyperlink
Maybe Clippy and Mario can team up!
"It appears you like to [eat strange mushrooms and then break bricks with your head]. Would you like me to help you create a macro to [eat strange mushrooms and then break bricks with your head]?"
This is true. But, I would consider it more than a "Spin". The Document Comprising the USA-PATRIOT states:
(a) SHORT TITLE- This Act may be cited as the `Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT ACT) Act of 2001'.
Welcome this tournament of Cerebral Overlords.
I always use that. Sounds cooler than .com too.
I'm dating this really hot chick (no, for real.. a real chick), for the er.. articles.
Yes. This is true. For *nix. For those people like my mother running Windows (hey, I got them as far as using Firefox and Open Office), this isn't as easy. In fact, I don't even think there is a utility in Windows that lets you create a Symbolic Link.
I Hope that all browsers involved would allow me to point to my own plugin directory, so I don't have to have a different copy of the same file for each browser I use.
What I thought to be impossible had suddenly become a reality.
Great news, then! If all this spam and chain mail comes true, maybe Bill Gates really WILL send me $200, and I'll have a large enough "one of those" to "THR0W IT T0 H3R FRom Accros5 the Ro0m. xldiendas cqwqsd". That, I will learn "The Secret Of Become Truly Loaded In Just Several Many Weeks".
Why by the 11, when you can just overclock the 10?
But, this one goes to 11.
If you've just ripped it, didn't you just copy it? If you've just turned it into mp3s, can't you just burn it to another disc? How is there any copy protection? It looks to me like the copy protection is not working.
I had this problem too. I then found a package which included GTK libraries. That fixed it fine.
In the U.S., it's usually low-paid teenagers working as theater ushers. Yeah, give them night vision goggles to play with. Now you have a pirated movie AND missing night vision goggles!
Family Link
Programming is merely a tool we learn to help make use of what we learn in Computer Science. Anyone can learn to program at some level. Just like anyone can learn to use a calculator. Making these tools do something interesting/novel/innovative/useful is another story.
Yes, you need to make use of math.
At least, the ability for some form of math-like reasoning! Granted, some are not great at math, but are great at Computer Science. These people still have a strong mind for math, just not the discipline to work it out on paper formally. They are still great problem solvers. They likely did bad in Trig/Calc, but great in Geometry or Logic.
I think that the main thing that makes a strong Computer Scientist is that they enjoy Computer Science. This is why some do not do well in Math, but excel at CS. It's not the mind, it's the attention span. In fact, many itching to solve a Computer Science problem will figure out the math when they need it. It has become interesting. But, the itch has to be there. The curiosity has to be there. The desire to tinker, rip it apart, and (hopefully) put it back together has to be there. And if learning to program is the the tool to get it done, so be it!
My first year taking CS classes showed this to me. The intro class went from 90 at the beginning of the semester to 40 at the end. Many of those people who decided "Computer Science is a good idea, because it's where the jobs are" (this was five 7 years ago), though smart, didn't have the interest needed. More than half of the class dropped it. Others ( a mix of good and - not as good - students) did very well.
So, yes, you may not need the math, but you need to have the ability to solve the problem. Please, do everyone a favor, and only persue CS if it is interesting to you. I know too many people that know all sorts of languages, and are over-confident, land great jobs and then are not great at their jobs. There's a lot of unemployed or underemplyed IT people out there with a lot of real talent who need a job and will do it well.